Everything becomes a song in our house!

"Song is a special type of speech. Lullabies, songs and rhymes of every culture carry the 'signature' melodies and inflections of a mother tongue, preparing a child's ear, voice and brain for language." - Sally Goddard Blythe

We love to sing in our house and IQ really enjoys it when I sing to her. The favourites are Row the boat and horsey horsey but our singing repertoir doesn't stop at the classics and nursery rhymes. I turn EVERYTHING into a song.

When I was little, my dad used to sing this to me and my brother while we were having a bath:

"Wash your ... Belly and your backy and your bum, Wash your ... Belly and your backy and your bum, wash your backy and your belly or you'll be really really smelly, Wash your ... Belly and your backy and your bum!"

I just love how silly my dad was with songs and I seem to have picked it up off him. When changing a nappy or having a bath I still sing the actions to IQ. I also make up silly songs when she's upset or fussy. Today I sang the following:

(To the tune of Glory, Glory, Hallelujah)
IQ has got a spider up her nose, IQ has got a spider up her nose,
IQ has got a spider up her nose, and I'm going to fish it our with a stick!

IQ has got a penguin in her ear, IQ has got a penguin in her ear,

IQ has got a penguin in her ear and we'll try and coax it out with a fish!


IQ has got a jellyfish in her mouth, IQ has got a jellyfish in her mouth,
IQ has got a jellyfish in her mouth and the clownfish don't know where it is! (thanks daddy for that line)

IQ has got a marmoset in her tum, IQ has got a marmoset in her tum,
IQ has got a marmoset in her tum because it's warmer than being up a tree!

Songs like this regularly take shape in our house, joining efforts from both me and hubby. I love singing to IQ, no matter how silly it feels. I also love hearing other songs that mums sing to their little ones. At Christmas we learnt a few new ones from my sister in law singing to her daughter, who also shows great pleasure at being sang to.

So, my lovely readers, what songs do you sing to your little ones? Do you make them up? Do you sing songs sang to you by your parents?